I'm a huge fan of the BBC crime drama Luther, starring Idris Elba as the eponymous hardbitten London cop, so I was eager to read the prequel novel written by series creator Neil Cross. It reveals the investigation of which John Luther is still feeling the fall-out when the show began, both professionally (via internal affairs) and personally (his wife left him for another man during the case). You don't need to know anything of the show to enjoy the book, though picturing Elba's imposing form will help you get into the character (indeed, Cross reveals in author's notes that the character wasn't complete until Elba was cast). As a novelist, Cross has a gripping, no-nonsense style that propels the plot forwards while still finding time for character moments and black humour. It's everything I'd hoped for... but this review does come with one warning.
Luther is a dark and extremely violent show. Likewise, the book pulls no punches - yet I've always found violence on the page to be far more affecting / disturbing than on the screen. You use your imagination more as a reader... and there are some extremely horrific scenes here. There's also a recurring theme of cruelty to animals which I always find harder to stomach than violence against humans. And when even Luther gets involved, dangling a dog from a balcony while trying to extract information from a its lowlife owner, Cross almost lost my sympathy for his hero. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but even anti-heroes need to know where to draw the line...
